Genetic parameters for production traits and measures of residual feed intake in Duroc and Landrace pigs

Data on 380 Duroc boars from seven generations, and 1026 Landrace pigs (341 boars and 685 gilts) from six generations were used to estimate genetic parameters for daily gain (DG), backfat thickness (BF), metabolic weight (MWT), daily feed intake (FI), feed conversion ratio (FCR) and residual feed intake (RFI). Two measures of RFI were estimated as the difference between actual feed intake and that predicted from models that included initial test age and weight and DG (RFI1); and initial test age and weight, DG and BF (RFI2). Heritability estimates for DG, MWT and FI were moderate for both breeds. BF estimates were high for both the breeds. The measures of feed efficiency (FCR and RFI) were moderately heritable. Genetic correlations of BF with measures of RFI were stronger when BF was not included in the estimation of RFI (0.40 and 0.46 for Duroc and Landrace, respectively (for RFI1), compared with 0.05 and 0.06 for Duroc and Landrace, respectively (for RFI2)). Genetic correlations of MWT with measures of RFI were all negative and low. Genetic and phenotypic correlations between DG and measures of RFI were close to zero, which indicated that selection for reduced RFI could be made without adversely affecting DG. BF should also decrease, and MWT should increase under selection for reduced RFI. The reduction in BF would depend on the measure of RFI used.     

Effects of parent‐of‐origin models with different pedigree information on beef carcass traits and fatty acid composition in Japanese Black cattle

Genomic imprinting should be considered in animal breeding systems to avoid lead in bias in genetic parameter estimation. The objective of this study was to clarify the effects of pedigree information on imprinting variances for carcass traits and fatty acid composition in Japanese Black cattle. Carcass records [carcass weight, rib eye area, rib thickness (RT), subcutaneous fat thickness and beef marbling score (BMS)] and fatty acid composition were obtained for 11,855 Japanese Black feedlot cattle. To estimate and compare the imprinting variances for the traits, two imprinting models with different pedigree information [the sire–dam gametic relationship matrix (Model 1) and the sire–maternal grandsire (MGS) numerator relationship matrix (Model 2)] were fitted. The ratio of the imprinting variance to the total additive genetic variance for RT (6.33%) and BMS (19.00%) was significant in Model 1, but only that for BMS (21.09%) was significant in Model 2. This study revealed that fitting the sire–MGS model could be useful in estimating imprinting variance under certain conditions, such as when restricted pedigree information is available. Furthermore, the present result suggested that the maternal gametic effects on BMS should be included in breeding programmes for Japanese Black cattle to avoid selection bias caused by imprinting effects.     

Grazing and heat stress protection of native grass by a sand-fixing shrub in the arid lands of northern China

Shrub species are used in restoration projects on dryland for their facilitation effects, which include environmental improvements and protection from herbivore feeding. Facilitation effects on forage grasses are potentially important in improving grazing capacity on rangelands. However, the morphology-dependent performance of benefactor plants in facilitating forage species growth and supplementation under moderate grazing intensity remains unclear. Here, our main purpose was to measure facilitation performance in terms of the survival of a native forage grass, Agropyron cristatum (L.) Gaertn. (Gramineae)., in accordance with the growth conditions of a sand-fixing benefactor shrub, Caragana microphylla Lam., in the Hulun Buir Grassland, northern China. Six study sites with patches of A. cristatum and C. microphylla were established at the foot of fixed sand dunes. At each site, five quadrats were set in places where C. microphylla coverage was 100% and A. cristatum grew among the shrubs (shrub quadrats), and another five were set where A. cristatum grew alone without C. microphylla (grass quadrats). We measured the morphological traits of C. microphylla and A. cristatum in all 60 quadrats, along with the soil water content and soil temperature. The data were compared between the shrub and grass quadrats by generalized linear mixed-effect models to assess the shrub's facilitation effects. We also used such models to elucidate the relationship between the average height of C. microphylla and the morphological traits of A. cristatum in the shrub quadrats. The maximum height, average grazed height, and the number of seed heads of A. cristatum were greater in the shrub quadrats than in the grass quadrats. The soil surface temperature was lower in the shrub quadrats. The maximum height and seed head number of A. cristatum were positively associated with the average height of C. microphylla. These results suggest that the grazing impact and heat stress were smaller in shrub quadrats than in grass quadrats, and that the degree of this protective effect depended on the shrub height. The shrub canopy seemed to reduce the increase in soil temperature and keep the grass vigorous. Livestock likely avoided grazing grasses in the C. microphylla patches because of the shrub's spiny leaves; only the upper parts of the grass stems (including the seed heads) protruding from the shrub canopy were grazed. The sand-fixing shrub thus moderates the grazing impact and soil temperature, and contributes to vegetation restoration and grazing system sustainability.     

Improvement of the gelling properties of meat emulsion gel by the addition of porcine sarcoplasmic proteins

The effects of porcine sarcoplasmic proteins (SP) on the physicochemical properties of meat emulsion gel were examined. Meat emulsion was prepared from water‐washed pork meat (WWM), corn oil and SP. Whole SP (W‐SP) enhanced the breaking stress of the WWM emulsion gel as well as other animal proteins in the presence of 0.2 mol/L NaCl. The breaking stress of the emulsion with W‐SP increased with an increase in corn oil content. Furthermore, this tendency was more noticeable at a lower NaCl concentration (0.15 mol/L) rather than at 0.45 mol/L NaCl. Ammonium sulfate (AS) treatment fractionated W‐SP into three portions (SP‐f1, SP‐f2 and SP‐f3), which were the precipitates at 0–50% and 50–75% AS saturation and the supernatant at 75% AS saturation, respectively. The fractions SP‐f2 and SP‐f3 increased the gel strength more than W‐SP. In particular, the fraction SP‐f3 increased the gel strength approximately 10‐fold compared to the control. Sodium dodecyl sulfate‐polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis showed that SP‐f3 had several kinds of proteins and a main protein with a molecular mass of 35 kDa, which corresponded to glyceraldehyde 3‐phosphate dehydrogenase. These results indicate that the influence of SP should not be ignored when processing of low‐salt meat products and the fraction SP‐f3 has a gel‐enhancing factor for myofibrillar proteins.     

Occurrence of conjugated linoleic acid in ruminant products and its physiological functions

Milk and meat products derived from ruminants contain a mixture of positional and geometric isomers of C_18:2 with conjugated double bonds, and cis‐9, trans‐11C_18:2 (conjugated linoleic acid, CLA) is the predominant isomer. The presence of CLA in ruminant products relates to the biohydrogenation of unsaturated fatty acids by rumen bacteria. Although, it has been suggested that cis‐9, trans‐11 CLA is an intermediate that escapes complete ruminal biohydrogenation of linoleic acid, is absorbed from the digestive tract, and transported to tissues via circulation. Its major source is endogenous biosynthesis involving Δ⁹‐desaturase with trans‐11C_18:1 produced in the rumen as the substrate. CLA has recently been recognized in animal studies as a nutrient that exerts important physiological effects, including anticarcinogenic effects, prevention of cholesterol‐induced atherosclerosis, enhancement of the immune response, reduction in fat accumulation in body, ability to enhance growth promotion, antidiabetic effects and improvement in bone mineralization. The present review focused on the origin of CLA in ruminant products, and the health benefits, metabolism and physiological functions of CLA.     

Heritability estimates of liabilities to digestive diseases in heavy racehorses

Data on 1410 heavy racehorses were taken from the Hokkaido Banei Horse Racing Result Book published during 1997–2000. Heritabilities were estimated using the restricted maximum likelihood method with a full data set of the accumulated prize winnings and the frequency of medical treatment against digestive diseases. Heritability estimates for the same traits were also obtained using a partial data set from affected animals only. In addition, a ‘two classes, one threshold’ model was applied to the full data set for the heritability estimation of liability to the diseases. Heritabilities estimated by restricted maximum likelihood with the full data set were quite low: 0.09 ± 0.02 for the prize winnings and 0.08 ± 0.03 for all three digestive diseases – colic resulting from flatulence, constipation and overfeeding. Low heritabilities were also estimated for each of the three kinds of colic. Medium heritabilities were estimated for colic resulting from constipation (0.30 ± 0.19) and overfeeding (0.46 ± 0.22) using the partial data set taken from the affected animals. Using the threshold model, higher heritabilities from 0.42 ± 0.04 to 0.57 ± 0.03 were estimated for the liabilities to all three digestive diseases and to the individual digestive diseases. These results suggest that liability evaluation of the frequency of medical treatment is insufficient because all non‐affected animals are scored as 0. The high heritabilities estimated by the threshold model with half‐sib relationships should be verified in future studies by comparing them with estimates from other genetic relationships and with realized heritabilities from a small‐scale practical selection program.     

Immunohistochemical analysis of matrix metalloproteinase-1, -3, and -13 in naturally occurring cartilaginous tumors of dogs

OBJECTIVE: To determine immunoreactivity of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-1, -3, and -13 in cartilaginous tumors of dogs, correlate expression of MMP with histologic grade of tumors and clinical outcome of dogs, and compare MMP immunoreactivity between chondrosarcomas and chondromas. SAMPLE POPULATION: Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues obtained from samples of naturally occurring chondrosarcomas (n = 31) and chondromas (8) of dogs that were submitted to our veterinary medical diagnostic laboratory. PROCEDURE: Histologic sections from each sample were stained with H&E and monoclonal antibody to MMP-1, -3, and -13 by use of an avidin-peroxidase immunohistochemical technique. For each section, histologic grade (I, II, or III) and immunohistochemical expression (0, 1, 2, or 3) were evaluated. Clinical outcome was obtained from medical records or interviews with referring veterinarians and scored as a good outcome, moderate outcome, or poor outcome. Correlations among variables and differences between chondrosarcomas and chondromas were analyzed. RESULTS: Samples from chondrosarcomas had significantly higher immunoreactivity of MMP-1 and -13, compared with immunoreactivity in samples from chondromas. In chondrosarcomas, a significant positive correlation (r, 0.386) was found between MMP-1 and -13 immunoreactivities, and a significant negative correlation (r, -0.390) was detected between MMP-3 and -13 immunoreactivities. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: A significant increase in expression of collagenases (MMP-1 and -13) in chondrosarcomas, compared with expression in chondromas, suggests that collagenases may play an important role in tumor progression, and possibly metastasis, in chondrosarcomas of dogs.     

Molecular cloning of Tulipa fosteriana rDNA and subsequent FISH analysis yields cytogenetic organization of 5S rDNA and 45S rDNA in T. gesneriana and T. fosteriana

In this study, Tulipa fosteriana was found to contain 45S rDNA repeat units of 9.7 and 9.5 kb, in which at least 7 types of 45S rDNAs were identified by restriction site analysis. For 5S rDNA, repeat units ranging from 364 bp to 396 bp were identified. The diploid cultivars (2n = 2x = 24) ‘Christmas Dream’ and ‘Queen of Night,’ representing the horticultural group T. gesneriana, and ‘Red Emperor’, belonging to T. fosteriana, were compared cytogenetically using cloned 5S and 45S rDNAs. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis identified many rDNA sites located on each chromosome in the diploid genomes. For example, we identified 71 sites of 5S rDNA and 10 sites of 45S rDNA in ‘Red Emperor’. Additionally, FISH analyses enabled construction of karyotypes for these cultivars. Karyotype comparison of T. gesneriana cultivars showed conservation of repetitive rDNA unit positioning. A clear difference in chromosome size and signal pattern was observed between T. gesneriana and T. fosteriana cultivars. Here we demonstrate the unique nature of the highly repeated 5S rDNA units in these Tulipa species and the usefulness of FISH karyotyping with cloned 5S and 45S rDNAs to clearly distinguish between chromosomes from T. gesneriana and T. fosteriana. Hitoshi Mizuochi and Agnieszka Marasek contributed equally to this paper     

Sequence and polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of the large subunit rRNA gene of bivalve: Simple and widely applicable technique for multiple species identification of bivalve larva

ABSTRACT:   One of the biggest and long-standing difficulties in investigation of larval ecology in the field is species-level identification. In the present study, we developed polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis based on the large subunit (LSU) rRNA gene (rDNA) D1/D2/D3 region for identification of multiple species of bivalve larvae using 14 species of bivalve collected from Maizuru Bay. The LSU rDNA D1/D2/D3 region of all analyzed species could be amplified by PCR using bvD1f/bvD3r primers, and RFLP analysis by Hae III digestion on the PCR products showed species-specific fragment patterns. Furthermore, this analysis applied to single bivalve larvae in Maizuru Bay revealed efficient amplification of the target region and the species-specific pattern from 80% of the larvae, 75% of which showed a pattern that matched a certain pattern of the adult bivalves. In addition, the analysis of inter- and intraspecies variation of the LSU rDNA D1/D2/D3 region using the sequence data of the genus Crassostrea from the DDBJ database showed high applicability of this RFLP analysis on closely related species. Because of the wide applicability and technical simplicity, this method can become the standard for the identification of bivalve larvae species once the sequence data of the LSU rDNA D1/D2/D3 region of many bivalve species have been accumulated.